Drought Statement

Statement on Drought for the 8 & 10-month periods
ending 30th November 2000

Little change in W.A. rainfall deficits, but some easing in Queensland

The Bureau of Meteorology announced today that much of the
southwest and west of Western Australia continues to experience
severe rainfall deficiencies following a month of
generally below average rainfall in November. On the other
hand, near-average November rainfall helped to ease deficiencies
in the southeast of
Queensland and the northeast of New South Wales.

Below average November rainfall in the west and southwest of W.A.
caused both a marginal intensification and slight expansion in the
rainfall deficiencies that have developed since April. For the eight
months from April to November, a large region of western W.A. from
Exmouth in the north to Albany and Esperance in the south, has
experienced generally severe rainfall deficits (see first map below).
There have been some record low totals in the south of the affected
area. Deficiencies that were evident on the central NSW coast for the
period beginning April, were eliminated by heavy November rains.

The ten months from February to November 2000 have been deficient
in rainfall over southeast Queensland and northeast NSW, but the
deficiencies have eased and contracted in the past few months in
response to increased rainfall. The affected region covers the East
Darling Downs in Queensland, together with parts of the Northern
Tablelands and Northern Rivers districts in NSW (see second
map below).

Note: The terms used to describe rainfall in these
Drought Statements have the following meanings -

Well below average
- rainfalls in the lowest 10% of historical totalsBelow average
- rainfalls in the lowest 30% of historical totals,
but not in the lowest 10%Average
- rainfalls in the middle 40% of historical totalsAbove average
- rainfalls in the highest 30% of historical totals,
but not in the highest 10%Well above average
- rainfalls in the highest 10% of historical totalsSerious deficiency
- rainfalls in the lowest 10% of historical totals,
but not in the lowest 5%Severe deficiency
- rainfalls in the lowest 5% of historical totalsLowest on record
- lowest since at least 1900 when the data analysed begin

For more information regarding this rainfall
deficiencies statement,
please contact the following climate meteorologists
during normal business hours (EST) Monday to Friday: